(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an autonomic based method of nonlinear phase encoding and hologram-based transmission of coded echoes from an unstructured underwater environment with real time decoding and visualization of the environment.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Visualizing underwater space, particularly in three-dimensions and in real time is of utmost importance. This visualization is accomplished mostly by passive or active sonar devices. Advanced arrays have been developed with serious shortcomings. Therefore, alternative concepts, theories and hardware are needed that would lead to a fundamentally different approach to visualizing underwater space.
In the natural world, large swimming animals such as dolphins inhabit shallow waters, and whales inhabit the deeper ocean. These separate species communicate with each other in each species and accurately detect objects. There is evidence that dolphins create an image of the environment using sonar in which the image is similar to the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. There does not seem to be much difference in the manner of detection between nearly blinded dolphins when in turbid rivers and the dolphins in oceans where there is more visibility.
Co-directivity is describable to justify a nonlinear approach to acoustic encoding of the environment. It is assumed that animals have to remain in synchrony with the environment to survive. It is also assumed that for persistent synchrony with the environment; the sensors, motion control neurons and the actuators need to have the same dynamics—namely nonlinear oscillatory autonomic. In other words, self-correcting dynamics of the Na and Ca ions in the membranes are closely related to the sensing and the flopping of motion actuators.
Neurons evolved to allow movement of life forms from point to point. The brain became more complicated to fulfill the needs of movements that had to be more complicated. Complexities in environments require a great deal of sensing which creates a difficult problem in the design of autonomous platforms. The question of should there be any rational foundation of integrating sensors, controllers and actuators in a platform is considered.
Observations made in the hearing and swimming propulsion of animals suggest that animals have a common dynamics probably determined by an intervening controller. Simulations are subsequently carried out which show that benefits in homing may accrue from such common dynamics which exhibits a preferred ‘handedness’. It is hypothesized that sensors, controllers and actuators have common autonomic oscillatory nonlinear dynamics. This allows animals to be in persistent oscillatory synchrony with the environment.
The dynamics of the olivo-cerebellar neuron is measured using an analog circuit. Features of observed trajectories of bats and of cilium of paramecium are calculated using the olivo-cerebellar dynamics and it is suggested that chaos helps a platform to adapt to changes in environment.
To understand how animals achieve such feats; is there any common foundation in their sensing, control and propulsion? Animals can have a large number of sensors in their body for mapping the environment and sensing changes. In manmade platforms, an increase in sensing is demanding on processing and coordination with the controller and the motion actuators. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that a common foundation in sensing, control and the mechanism of propulsion could be the key to autonomy. In this work, there is evidence for the existence of such a common foundation, and carry out simulations of motion to determine advantages that such a foundation might offer. Finally, the notional design of a nonlinear volumetric and metachromic sensor is possible in which the design could offer autonomy in an unstructured environment that seem to be lacking in man-made platforms of today.
It is important to understand that muscles of animals are vibrating at roughly 10 Hz, however imperceptible the amplitude at a given instant may be. This vibration is not monochromatic and is nonlinear. Note that the motion of animals is controlled by inferior-olive neurons which are mathematically described as coupled nonlinear oscillators that are slightly unstable. They have a property called ‘Self-Referential Phase Reset’ whereby an external impulse can bring any number of de-correlated actuators (muscles) into a common phase.
It has been proposed that persistent synchrony with the environment, in all animals; the motion control inferior-olive neurons, the actuators (muscles) and the sensors operate on the same nonlinear dynamical system principles. Using this assumption and some principles of handedness; it was shown that a platform/animal would be able to home on to a moving target faster.
In order to enhance detection; a need therefore exists for an accessible version of the visualization process presently used in the natural world.